Grate control



June 27, 193s. l G, A* KOHQUT 1,915,538

GRATE CONTROL.

Filed Jan. 27. 1932 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 June 27,- 1933. G. A. KOHOUT GRATECONTROL 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Jan. 27. 1952 Patented June 27, 1933PATENT 'orrice d i GEORGE A. KOI-IOUT, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS GRATECONTROL l.Application led January 27, 1932. Serial No. 589,078.

Myinvention relates the controlof the grates of a stoker :andisvparticularly ap-v plicabletothat type of furnace in which thegratesare so constructedthat by rocking f them they gradually movethe'fuel back from the forward endV of the furnace.

In my application Serial No. 302,395, filed August 27, 1928, l show agrate control mechanism by vwhich a periodicV rocking of the grates isyaccomplished from a drive shaft 'that is continuously rocking to andfro.v

It is a purpose Yof the present invention to provide a grate controlmechanism of this character with means for causing a temporaryconnection between the rock shaft and the member which communicates theaction of the shaft to the grates at ,any timebetween the normalperiodic operation of the grates.

The advantages of this improvement Vlie in the fact that it enables thefurnace operator to manually cause an additional shakingk of the gratesif at any time the fire appears to need it without thepnecessity ofchanging the normal operation of the system. As for example, theoperator may notice that the fuel has piled up too much at the front ofone furnace yandin expecting an immediate demand on the load he maycause the gratesto rock a few times extra in order to work this fueldown over the fuel bed to obtain a hot fire before the anticipateddemand depletes the supply of steam.

Other examples of the utility of this improvement could be given, butthey are believed to be unnecessary.

I will describe the preferred form of my invention by reference to theaccompanying drawings wherein-'- Y Fig. 1 is a longitudinal sectionthrough the furnace illustrating vthe grate bars in their operativeconnection to the grate shaking mechanism; y

Fig. 2 is an end view of the grate shaking unit which is mounted uponthe rock shaft;

ofrFig. 3.

Fig. 3` is a front view ofthe same unit; and e Fig. 4- is a partialvsection on the line el- 4.v

f Referring now in the numeral 5 indicates generally the grates whichare of the eccentrically pivoted type connected together by means of abar '6 which in turn is connected with the operat;

ing bar 7 that leads to a member 8 `forming 55 is operated by the thepresent invention is that the shaft rock l to and fro. The unit 9 isreally a ratchet and pawl mechanism by means of which the rocking motionof the shaft is periodically communicated to the member 8.

The member 14 is secured directly to shaft 70 10 so as to rock therewithby means of a suitable pin 15. This member 14 has at one side theprojecting shoulder 16 which is adapted to engage a correspondinglshoulder 17 on the member 8 which member is pivoted 75 upon the shaft10. The member 14 also cary ries a stub shaft 18 upon which are mounteda plurality of dogs or pawls such as indicated at 19 and 20. Thecombined cam and ratchet member 21 is rotatably mounted on the shaft 8010, the teeth on the ratchet wheel 22 thereof being engaged by pawl 19while the cam member 23 thereof has a cut-away portion as indicated yat24 and is otherwise substantially circular so that the pawl 2O can onlydrop 85 down from the position shown in Fig. 2 into the cut-away portion24C when the portion 24 happens to be aligned with the pawl 20.

A holding pawl indicated at 25 at the bottom of Fig, 2 is mounted on thebracketdetail to the drawings, 5o

a bar 12 having a handle 13. The rock 6o most clearly inFig. 2, holdsthe pawl 19 away from the ratchet wheel 22 during a portion of itsmovement. This member 26 is adjustable as described in my priorapplication, but the details of thisadjustment are'Y of no imi portanceto the present application and will not be further described. It isbelieved-to be sufficient for the purposes of this invention to pointout merely that the member 26 is pivoted upon the shaft 10 and is heldin any desired position by means of the lug 27 thereon carryingk a pin28 which engages the teeth 29 onthe member 30 projecting out Vfrom, thebracket4. y y The member 8, as pointed out, has ,theprojection 17thereon adapted to engage with the' should`erl16 on the member 14 sothat, as' the member 14 .moves in a kcounterclockwisel direction, themember 8 will be forced to move Vtherewith to thefullextent of themovement ofthe member 14. The extent of this movement is adjusted sothat it brings the grate substantiallylevel, and, as there is novariation in this movement, the grates are always brought tolevelposition at the endof cach shaking motionimparted thereto bytheshaft The normal operation .of the ,pawl20,"when Y ever the depressiony24 in cam 23 is positioned under (it, is to periodically drop down andabut the shoulder 31 provided on that portion'y lof'member 8 whichpasses around the shaft 10. WVhen this occurs, of course, theV member 8is caused to move with the member 14V and shaft'lO to the limitof theshafts movement in this direction. This is one complete rocking of thegrates to 'raised position, and, upon the return rocking movement of theshaft,

the member 8 is brought'back to its original position by means of theshoulder 16 and` member 17.

Onthe next rocking movement of the shaft 10, however, the cam 23 willhave movedfar enough to bring the slot 24 past the pawl 20 so that itcannot drop in the position to again actuate the grates.

In this fashion, a number of rocking movements of the shaft 10 takeplace for each operation of the grates, and thus, by regulating theVperiodicoperation of the grates, the furnace can be automaticallycontrolled so as to feed the fuel at the proper rate.

Having once accomplished this, however,

n if a temporary shaking of the grates is desired, I provide the novelimprovement which is the subject matter of this application.

This improvement consists of an auxiliary.

pawl 32'which is carried on pawl 20 and pivoted to the same shaft 18.The pawl 2O has within it a bore 33 (see Fig. 4), and a pin 34 carriedby the auxiliary pawl 32 extends into this bore and is normally held inone position therein by means of the spring- 35. The slot 36 in the sideof the pawl 20 permits this pin, which is rigid with the auxiliary pawl32, to be moved against the kpressure of the spring 35 so as to advance"ment of thesha tf10 in a clockwise direction Lengage the shoulder: 31and move the member' 8fwith the shaftlO so as to rock the g'ratesin'ethe usualL fashion. 'Members 16 and 17 fwill return the gratestolevelpo'sition upon the return movement of the shaft 10.v -In thisfashion, the' grates may be actuated by temporaril f depressing pawl 32at any time between t e normalperiodic actuations.

From the above description, it is believed that'the construction andoperation of this device will be clear to those skilled in this art andthe advantages thereof readily apparent. Itis also believed to be.obvious that various minormodifications may be made without departingfrom the scope of the invention as defined yin the following claims.

`rI-Iavingthus described yone specific form ofmy invention, what I claimas new and desire-to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Ina grate shaking device for shaking furnacegrates having a memberoperativel connected to the grates, a rocking drive sha t and mechanisminterconnecting said member and shaft for periodically connecting saidmember to said shaft during a rocking movement of said shaft `whereby tomove said member and shake the grates, means for causing temporaryconnection between saidl shaft and member between the periodicalconnections thereof whereby to impart an additional shaking to thegrates, said means com'- prising a shoulder on said member, a pawl,

movable with said shaft ,but having means yieldingly holdingit clear ofsaid shoulder, and means for holding said pawl against said shoulder.'

v 2. In a grate rocking device for shaking stoker grates having arocking shaft, ar member operatively connected to the grates, and aratchet and pa-wl mechanism connecting said shaft and member forperiodically causing said shaft to move the member to'thereby rock thegrates, manually operable means for'connecting said shaft and membertogether at any time between the periodical lli) GEORGE A. KOHOUT.

